Stage 1 Complete

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In homage to The Tour, which is taking place as we speak, we completed the first stage of our own tour by taking ownership of our bikes last night. As one of the tougher stages so far it has to be said it was a was a bit of a trial to complete - having as we did to endure the sniggers of the shop staff who were clearly mystified by our plan to ride home through France in the August heat despite clearly having no clue about how to attach a pannier, nor which brake lever controlled which wheel. Clearly thinking we must be in the midst of our very own doping scandal, they did however provide exemplary service, albeit in an Italian 'when I am ready' type of fashion.

So, once the cash was handed over we set off on our initial test ride (round the block three or four times). It quickly became clear that Katie had picked up some kind of super-charged-mentalist-hard-core machine of a bike as whenever she cruised past the lycra clad cyclists that are so numerous round here she drew some admiring gasps and upbeat comments about her frame (if you want to judge for yourself - the bike that is - check it out online, its a Cannondale T800). On the other hand, I seem to have acquired the family estate version of the bike world - (a Cannondale Trekking) which is not nearly as cool in comparison...it even has suspension on the seat post, which I didnt realise until we left the shop, and I would imagine is the equivalent in the bike world of wearing slippers in the house.

Anyway, once back home I had a test run of filling up the panniers and the good news is that we can fit in more or less everything we needed to bring.

Next step is to decide on a route and to work out if it is possible to take bikes on trains. If not, I envisage a lot of ferries in our near future.

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